Your Honor,

you may ask: why do these people want a trial?

The answer is simple.

We violated the law, on November 5th on purpose: aware of the risks and of the consequences. But we deliberately chose that way to attract public opinion, as a first step to repeal the needle law and stop the spread of AIDS.

We wanted to demonstrate that Mayor Dinkins's repeated claim that free needles encourage "drug use" and that there is "No Evidence" that needle exchange reduces the spread of AIDS is a knowing falsehood.

Here in this room stand people, doctors, experts who came from Liverpool, Amsterdam, Tacoma, who could have shown to you, and to a jury and to Mayor Dinkins that there is overwhelming "evidence" that needle exchange saves lives, and has been proven to be a highly effective way to reduce the spread of AIDS.

Imagine, your honor if during the past epidemics, let us say Malaria or Hepatitis or Cholera, Health Authorities would do absolutely nothing or prohibit quinine or penicillin.

You yourself would have organized free distribution of quinine, civil disobedience actions, public forums and so on.

This is the situation on AIDS: Health authorities are in fact enormously helping the spread of AIDS, with this criminal needle law and the lack of any kind of effective health policy.

Your Honor:

do you know any worthier action than saving lives???

You have today a real possibility of doing it, announcing a moratorium on needle law..

In the interest of the whole community take this occasion:

Thousands of people can be saved, they will stay alive, they and the whole community will be grateful.

Now here we are, in a confused situation which looks like selective prosecution:

the prosecutor has moved to dismiss this case.

Yet the prosecutor in the Act-up 10 case has rejected few days ago an identical request in the trial which is going on in this building.

I imagine that the prosecutor did not move to dismiss just to get rid of two Italians: we prefer to interpret his move as a step towards a "moratorium" on prosecutions, beginning with the Act-up 10 case.

But in a democracy the rules must be clear and equal for all: and that's the reason why I have to inform you that as soon as you close the case we will walk to the health department across the street with clean needles to be distributed. And what is going to happen: will you arrest us again and start a new trial this afternoon? GO ahead: we are ready.